Month: October 2015

Hi there! It’s been a very busy summer, I feel like I blinked and it was over. For this summer, I decided to do something a little different from my typical weekly food shops and signed up for a CSA.

CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you pay a lump sum at the beginning of the growing season to a farm, and in return, you get a “share” of their produce every week. After researching the different CSAs available in my area, I decided to go with a partial share from the Turtle Bay CSA. The vegetables are grown by Free Bird Farm in upstate New York (which also services other CSA’s throughout New York City). Every week from around mid-June to mid-November, the CSA has a vegetable pickup where they hand out the week’s vegetables. In return, you must volunteer at least once at a vegetable pickup to help things run smoothly. Additionally, if you want to pay a little extra, you can purchase an egg share, a butter share, a maple syrup/honey share, a poultry share, ground beef share, and/or a fruit share. Click here to learn more about what a CSA is, how it works, and where to find one near you in NYC.

You don’t have a say in what vegetables are given out each week, and a lot of what the farm produces depends on the weather and the rain conditions of the season. For instance, this summer has been dryer than previous summers, and therefore the vegetables we received this year were a lot different than last year’s produce. Additionally, the farmers of Free Bird Farm send out a weekly newsletter that share a little bit about life on the farm, the work that goes into growing a successful crop, a detailed list of what vegetables are being offered that week, and different recipes incorporating those vegetables.

The vegetables I’ve received so far have been varied and interesting, but we still have received a lot of the familiar vegetables that I’m used to eating. So far we’ve gotten a lot of garden tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, red potatoes, cabbages, and beets. Some of the weirder vegetables of this season include kohlrabi, fennel, japanese radishes, and tongue of fire shell beans. There has also been a lot of salad greens, red lettuces, and kale. I have been loving it so far, because the CSA has been getting me out of my comfort zone of buying the same vegetables over and over, and has been pushing me to discover new recipes that I typically wouldn’t try. Of course, when I have no idea what to do with a vegetable, which will occasionally happen, I can rely on cubing it and roasting it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and eat it as a side dish throughout the week, and that works just fine (usually my standard temperature and time for vegetable roasting is 350 degrees for 30 minutes – stirring the vegetables at the 15-minutes mark).

I also find that the fresh herbs and vegetables that I’m used to eating, like the tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce, taste so good and stay fresh for way longer. This may be likely due to the reduced transit time from the farm to my kitchen. Also, the vegetables you get are actually in season, and are therefore at the peak of freshness and their highest nutritional quality.

Some tips if you’re thinking about joining a CSA next season:

Start a Pinterest page that’s dedicated to the vegetables you get from the CSA to keep everything in one place. My CSA Pinterest board has been a lifesaver.

Save the greens of everything. Radish greens, turnip greens, and especially beet greens are delicious when sauteed with oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and onions, and although it may seem like too many greens when you pick up your vegetables, they usually cook way down. This is an easy way to reduce waste and to give your meals a big nutritional boost.

If you really don’t like something, you can swap it for something else at your pickup location. I try not to do this because I want to try everything, but if we get something that I know I just won’t eat and would prefer to have more of another vegetable, then I will swap it.

Kind of along the lines of the above point, if you don’t think you will like something, be open to trying it. I honestly did not think I liked kale or beets before this summer. Now, after researching different ways to cook them, I love them. I’ve made countless kale-based smoothies, beet chips, and beet hummus. I don’t even dream of swapping these super-foods out.

WASH EVERYTHING. INVEST IN A GOOD SALAD SPINNER. The farm does a pretty good job with hosing everything down before handing out the vegetables, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find the occasional critter or dirt in your pickup. Gross, yes, but remember these vegetables are fresh from the farm and it’s as natural as you can get.

Talk to other people when you’re at the pickup to get ideas for how they cook and eat their veggies.

Enjoy it! This CSA season has about a month left and I honestly am so sad. But I’m going to keep looking for the more out-of-the-box veggies at the supermarket over the winter.

If you want more of an idea for what type of vegetables, fruit and other food items that can come in a CSA, check out the Turtle Bay CSA website (link above in text). Also, check out my friend and fellow dietitian Rachel Greenspan’s amazing instagram. She belongs to a CSA that uses Free Bird Farm as well, and makes amazing and beautiful dishes. The link can be found here: wholegreens.

Caprese salad with lettuce greens, fresh basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella.Easter Egg Radishes!Easter egg radish, sweet potato, and kohlrabi, pre-veggie roastFresh corn veloute soupAnother crazy roast of kohlrabi, fennel, and golden beets.Hi! Me volunteering at the veggie pickup – weighing out red potatoes and studying a kohlrabi – which honestly looks like an alien.My first attempt at making spaghetti squash! Only got one of these things so far, wish we had more.An example of the beet hummus I made for the Pretty Little Liars finale – felt the rich red color and “A” was appropriate. Recipe can be found on my Pinterest CSA board and it is AmAzing (see what I did there?).An example of just taking all the greens and throwing it in a pan with some chicken, this dinner is basically a hodge-podge of all the different greens, purple cabbage, and easy.Bacon and escarole soup. First time I ever had escarole, now a big fan (bacon does that with a lot of foods, doesn’t it?).